A clear shot...

"Some of the crowd are on the pitch. They think it's all over…. It is now." Well how would you start a feature about Geoff Hurst? It's one of those great inevitables. It's the same as Geoff calling his autobiography 1966 And All That. What choice does he have?

The 1966 World Cup final was the most famous football match ever played, from the German equaliser in the last seconds, to the Russian linesman, to that astonishing finale. And Geoff was the hero. As contradictory as it sounds, and remember we're talking about a serious triumph here, English football has never really recovered from that moment. Until now. Despite an uneasy amorality that's sweeping the game, think Sol Campbell, think Patrick Viera, English football is at a higher ebb now than since those heady days 35 years ago.

If football was like it is now back in 1966, can you imagine what would have happened to Geoff Hurst? It's unlikely he'd have been ripped apart by the media. He's straighter than a floorboard and about as clear cut. He's been married to the same woman for 37 years and they met when she was 16. "She's known me since I was a newspaper seller," says Geoff sweetly and he laughs when I say that I guess in a way he didn't stop being a newspaper seller, "But we're genuine childhood sweethearts. I'm looked upon as a freak in modern life."

Still he'd have been put in the goldfish bowl of celebrity. Think of a combination of Beckham and Owen and you might get near it. "The hype surrounding the game is completely different. We saw that at Euro 96, but yes, if we achieved today what we achieved then, things would be vastly different." You'd have been deified, I say flippantly and Geoff walks straight past my flippancy like it's a knackered German defender. "I'm not sure it would have been a good thing. We had to go and get a job when we finished playing and I think that that's been good for my personality, to go and do other things. I don't think it would have been a good thing to have been financially secure and not have had to work ever again but you never know." No, I don't suppose you do. But still.

I don't suppose you'd be human if you didn't get a bit jealous of today's stars and the perks they get. Think of it. A combination of Beckham and Owen. One ad deal and you'd be set up for any number of lifetimes. "A bit jealous? Never at all, I've not got one regret. But I've earned as good a living out of the game as most people in it without any of the hassle and with greater flexibility."

From a sales perspective, the publication of Hurst's book is as perfectly timed as that strike all those years ago. In September England plays what could well be the decisive match in its campaign to qualify for the next World Cup. It's a match upon which everything depends. As good a start as Sven Goran Eriksson has had as England manager, it could all go to pot if things go pear shape. And who is the match against? Germany, of course. It had to be Germany.

So the crowd's on the pitch. They might think it's all over but what's going through your head? "You don't have a chance to think a great deal and I've said this many, many times so it's common knowledge anyway. People think I'm blasé but when I got to the edge of the penalty area my thoughts were very clear. I knew the game was nearly over. I was extremely tired. I was just going to hit the ball as hard as I could with my left foot and I was thinking that if it did go over the bar it would take a few vital seconds. My thoughts are just as clear today as they were at the time." It was a fantastic shot though. Watching the footage again, you realise that in any game at any time, it would have been a fantastic goal. "Oh, it was a fantastic shot. I did strike it with a lot of power even though I was quite tired.""Did you feel that it was real?"
"Was there a sense of reality? I don't think so. You don't come down for a while. You're not really aware of the enormity of the occasion.""Did the world go all soft focus and slow-motion?"

"The first emotion is a sense of relief. It's not just the game. It's been going on for two months. Your first thoughts are: 'Well, thank God that's over'. The enjoyment of the World Cup started later but goes on today as people still talk to me about it." And now they're going to talk about it even more. "I was at the Pavarotti concert the other week and I was sitting there on my own waiting for my wife and a couple walked past me and glanced at me and I could see them thinking 'That's him' and the lady came back and told me where she was at the time and what she did… Those stories are continuous."

It seems rude not to ask the other World Cup final question: Geoff, the second goal… "That's the other thing people always ask me. I've always believed it was in and still think so. In sport if you're not sure, you make sure and Roger Hunt, a great striker, just wheeled away. That tells you."

Hurst was 24 when England won the World Cup in 1966 and despite being awarded an MBE, being knighted and everything he's done since, he has become as frozen in time as English football. Did it ever become a millstone? "People could argue if you score a hat trick in the World Cup final when you're 24 what else have you got to achieve? You've scored three goals in the biggest possible game in football. But I never saw it like that. Firstly, it happened at time when you couldn't afford to retire, the wages were such that you had to continue playing as long as you possibly could. I've always had a huge desire to be successful at sport and that desire to be seen to be successful, so achieving it that young wasn't going to satisfy my ambitions for the rest of my life."

Ah, the rest of his life. Hurst continued to play after the crowd came on the pitch, going on to Stoke City from West Ham and retiring in 1972. He tried football management at Telford and Chelsea but it didn't work. "Management's a silly job." Why? "No, it's not silly. It's a stupid job." So he left football and went out into the Big Wide World. "I've been in business since 1982 with the AON Corporation and in 1998 I semi-retired. I still do a couple of days a week, but now I take life a bit easier, do a bit of PR and a bit of after dinner speaking." He was involved in the failed attempt to get Britain to host the 2006 World Cup, but that's about as far as the contact goes now. That, and going to his beloved West Ham.

Did he ever get to the stage where he wanted to shout: 'There's more to me than that. I have done other things with my life'. "Not in the slightest. In my normal life no one ever talks about it. Strangers of course will want to, but not in my normal everyday life. If I go out to functions, like the golf charity function I was at yesterday it will come up then. People will take their time, but they'll always come up and ask 'Did the ball go over the line?' But that's about it. So no, it's not a millstone."

In the pre-publicity for the book, the publisher's make mouthwatering claims that there are "major new revelations and anecdotes about some of the game's greatest figures" and "trenchant and fresh views about the state of the game". The only thing is, I don't think they told Geoff. "I didn't want to reveal all and have a go at the whole world. It's not the sort of book we wanted to do." Go on. Just a few trenchant views. Don't you think the game has been spoiled? All the money and the lack of morality and loyalty…?" "No, I don't think so. I don't think its been spoiled. It's just a change of attitude. In the days when I played players were treated like serfs and now the boot is on the other foot. I suppose somewhere in between would be a nice balance. I don't think those stories will help it or kill it, it's just part of football nowadays. These stories are going to happen from time to time. It was Anelka two years ago, it'll continue to happen." But someone like Viera…" The player will benefit by going to a bigger club and the club will benefit to the tune of around £20m, so the club doesn't do too badly out of it, but they don't want to let their best players go because there's a shortage of top class players." OK. What of the current English team? Do they compare to yours? "They're doing OK. It's a good start, but you can't compare them. We won the World Cup but a comparison can only be made if a team today achieves what a team of yesteryear achieves"

That bit of commentary. Do you ever get sick of it? "Never at all, never at all." Did you ever talk to Kenneth Wolstenholme about it? "Occasionally. He always says to me that he's made me with that commentary, which I always love."

copyright New Insight 2000

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